Have you ever wonderd what feelings you might have or others might have after taking a family photo and looking at it after years pass? Well I have, and this is my story.

I was born in a country away from my family, I have always had my mother, father and little brother, but I have never had my sister, my cousin’s, my aunt’s and uncle’s or my grandparent’s or anybody! so when I was 17, I went back to the country of my roots! I travel from New York in the U.S.A. to Chile in South America, ALONE! and it was an adventure… I first went to meet the side of my mother, not many people I did meet there, but it was enough for me to feel happy and where I belonged. I started out in Viña Del Mar visiting my Grandmother, Aunt and three Cousin’s they all lived in a small house that belonged to my grandmother, but it was a home none the less. When I first got there I was greeted by their dog, I will admit I love that dog, he is so playful, and protective of the family, but back to the main sotry, The house was small, so small that I hit my head the first time I went into the house, but I got used to it in the two weeks I was there, where I would spend most of my time with my two oldest cousin’s there, Sebastion and Aliine, they were both 14, but I could relate to them, so they would go to me rather then my aunt for anything and everything, but after the two weeks past I had to say good bye. After leaving my mom’s side of the family, it was time to meet my dad’s side, again it was a small house, or so I thought! The house looked smaller then the first house from the outside, but after entering I soon learned of it’s great size. There I met my other Grandmother, Aunt and Cousin. Though there were less then in the last house I soon found out how it would grow rapidly, as my other aunt’s and uncle’s and cousin’s arived to meet me, the small welcome that started with 3 people soon turned into five, then fifteen and then eighteen and so on and so forth. It was one of the happiest days of my life right there and then, because that was when I knew that I should have never been born in the U.S.A. but in South America with my family, where I was truely happy. That was also when I met my sister and her five kids! Although my sister is from my mom’s side of the family, she lived closer to my dad’s side of the family, and I got to meet them all and that was truely the most happiest day of my life ever. I was overwhelmed to be called uncle, and to feel like I accualy had a family! I would spend most of my time with my niece’s and nephew’s but I would spend time with my sister aswell, I would love taking them out to the stores and just buying them what they wanted, and I did it because I knew they diserved it, I knew from a long time before meeting them how financialy bad they lived, they were poor, there is no other way to describe it, so I was happy to be able to buy them clothes and things for their home, and I was even more happy when I found out how well educated they were! They all had excelent grades but what really made me proud, was that the second most youngest Julian, was a boy GENIUS!(I will post a link to the news article at the end of this story.) I was so filled with joy to find out my little 5 year old nephew was so smart, along with his 3 older siblings and 1 younger sibling they were all extreamly smart and adorable, but it also made me sad to know that once my time there was up, Iw ouldnt see them again for an entire year… So I got seriouce and spent as much time with them and my family as I could, always helping out and buying food and anything else they might need, I would also love playing soccer with my cousin’s and just messing around with them, we even made a bunch of videos, and I posted two fo them on youtube, even though there were about 200 videos we made, I only put up two.(I will post a link to both videos at end.) I also loved the food there, It was rich and accualy made with feeling, not like here in New York where people are either to lazy or to busy to make a good home cook meal anymore. I won’t lie though, it wasnt all magnificent while I was there, there were earthquakes, fighting, and murder while I was there. On my first week there, my aunt and her boyfriend went out to a party for the school my aunt worked in, and considering my grandmother was 74 years old and tierd, I was left incharge of everybody all day and night, now then my cousins were on winter vacation, and I know what it’s like to be on vacation and being told go to bed early, so I let them have their freedom, and im glad I did, because they loved me for it. I’m glad I knew how to cook, but I am also glad my cousin’s were willing to help me, even thought they had friends over, but later that day after their friends went home and dinner was long over, it was about 9:30pm and we all just got a craving for something while watching a movie, so I went to the mini-mart across the street, and bought everybody a treat, but I was in for trouble when leaving. Although I loved the dog there, he always tried escape to fight with other dog’s, so when ever I went out and came back I had to tell him to go to the back, so he wouldn’t escape, and after doing that, the local thugs started making fun of me over my accent, and I was always raised to never take anything from nobody, so I reasonably went over to them, and cursed them out in two languages, and while going back to the house one of them threw a rock at my head while another stole the bag of treats I bought, and what I didn’t know at the time was that my cousins were watching me from the window and called the police, but unaware of my cousins actions, I fought back at the thug’s there were three of them, and I won, I grabed a small hard branch and ended up braking it across each of their heads, where they ended up running away and droping my bag, after finishing with them and goin back to the house with the bag I went to my room to take my medicine and to the bathroom to wash the blood from the rock hitting me int he head, but that was when I herd my cousin Aliine scream and I herd a window shater, I immediatly ran out to see what happend, and I saw that the three thugs I beat up turned into seven thugs, that was when I got scared, but not for myself, but for my cousin’s. I told them to go hide in my grandmothers room because it was on the other side of the house, where they called the police again, then I ran to the kitchen and round an old dusty machete hidden behind the counter, I grabbed it and ran outside to the thugs where I again started fighting them, but this time I was being beat, but I didn’t give up, I kept fighting untill the police arived and ended the fight. My cousin’s and the neighbors cleared me and explained I was protecting my cousin’s and grandmother from being hurt, so I got let off with a warning, but the others got thrown in jail for a few months. The second week there was when the earthquake happend, and most of the town was flooded, although our house was safe I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the homes that were wrecked, but it was a terrifying event none the less, to see things falling off the walls shatering as the house shook violently we all stood under door frames, and hid under tables to protect ourselves from the things falling all around us. The last week I was there was when my final problem happend, just like the first, I wound up in a fight, with local thugs but this time it started out with five thugs making fun of me for my accent but unlike the first time I ignored them this time because I was with my nieces and nephews, but as I was reaching the store one of them threw a bottle at me that ended up hitting my oldest niece in the leg, that was when I made them run into the store where the owner helped my niece but did not call the police, I went back outside and grabed the broken bottle and went after them cutting and stabbing as many of them as I could, all I wanted was for them to suffer, and as I was fighting one of them hitt me on the back of the head with a metal pipe that was laying on the floor, thats when they all started hitting me as I layed on the ground, but then I herd my nieces and nephews telling me to run away, I got up and kept fighting I could barely feel any part of my body but I kept fighting, thats when my aunt herd the screeming and my sister, aunt’s, uncle’s and all of my cousins ran out, they all joined in the fight and helped me out, we ended up winning and the thugs ran away, thank god they didn’t come back like the thugs durring the first week, because this time I was really hurt badly, I was in bed in pain for 3 days after that fight, but I was happy I was able to protect my nieces and nephews and get revenge for them, after I could finaly move again without feeling that much pain, I went to go visit them at their little 4 room house made out of smashed iron barrels, they were all happy to see I was better, and I spent the day with them, playing with them and helping out around the house, but that was also the last time I would see them because I would leave to come back to New York the day after, but what I never suspected was that they all wrote me their own cards telling me how happy they were to meet me and how much fun they had with me and how much they loved me, I was so happy and sad at the same time I accualy started crying of joy, that was when I promised them and myself I would come back the next year, or durring my own winter break no matter what! Even though I was sad to say good bye, I knew it was time, so I said good bye, but it wasn’t for good. After getting back to my own home, I started working right away to save up money to go visit them again, but it wasn’t like a normal person would do, since I couldnt work full time because of school, I got three jobs, and worked at each one for 8 hours a day, one was in a video store, the second was in a deli, and the last was in a laundry mat. I ended up quiting the deli because my boss was a racist pig, and fired from the video store because my boss was best friends with the boss I had at the deli, and then I had to quit the laundry mat to help my mom out at home, but I am still looking for work, and I know I will find one, so that I can go back to my family and have a good time again.